Just booked airline tickets for Palau for end of June! So maybe I've been living under a rock for a few years, but since when did it become so easy and relatively affordable to fly to Palau??!!!
Back in 1999, my wife (then-girlfriend) and I made our first trip to Palau via a Japanese tour operation from Tokyo. I've been dreaming of going back, but every few years I'd sample the expensive CO Micronesia island-hopper and then research the obscure charters out of Taiwan or Tokyo .... hence Indonesia has been our go-to destination for the last five years, when the discounted fares on Singapore Air line up, though the day-and-a-half routing from the West Coast was tiresome.
After missing our annual destination dive trip last year, I just started thinking about vacation a few weeks ago, and Indonesia fares were pricey. So just punched Koror into the travel sites on a whim, and what is all this? Affordable fares every day of the week, not just CO, but now there's Delta flights with only one stopover, even the Taiwan route shows up online with Air China? Even CO/UA have more routing options through NRT-GUM as well!
When did all this happen? It's amazing - I just booked tickets for cheaper than I've been paying to get to Bali or Lembeh in recent years, the flights are still long but significantly shorter than getting to Indonesia! Makes a huge difference in the number of diving days, as work prevents my wife and I from taking more than 10-11 days off...
Well, now it's time to find a hotel and dive op, even the hotel choices seem to have expanded as well so gotta do more research (couldn't even find any mention of the hotel we were at last time - the OLD Hotel Nikko that closed when it was haunted by Japanese ghosts).
Can anyone recommend hotels near the major three ops (Sams, Fish'n'Fins, Neco) that have reliable and accessible (prefereably wi-fi) Internet? Meaning not dial-up or pay-per-hour. Sounds like PPR and Sea Passion have good Internet. I've read Palau Royal Resort has wifi for a fee in the "library", but that it can be slow - however, Neco's website says they have free wi-fi at the dive shop, and they're within a short walk of the Palau Royal Resort? Do the other dive shops within walking distance of Palau Royal Resort have Internet access?
Back in 1999, my wife (then-girlfriend) and I made our first trip to Palau via a Japanese tour operation from Tokyo. I've been dreaming of going back, but every few years I'd sample the expensive CO Micronesia island-hopper and then research the obscure charters out of Taiwan or Tokyo .... hence Indonesia has been our go-to destination for the last five years, when the discounted fares on Singapore Air line up, though the day-and-a-half routing from the West Coast was tiresome.
After missing our annual destination dive trip last year, I just started thinking about vacation a few weeks ago, and Indonesia fares were pricey. So just punched Koror into the travel sites on a whim, and what is all this? Affordable fares every day of the week, not just CO, but now there's Delta flights with only one stopover, even the Taiwan route shows up online with Air China? Even CO/UA have more routing options through NRT-GUM as well!
When did all this happen? It's amazing - I just booked tickets for cheaper than I've been paying to get to Bali or Lembeh in recent years, the flights are still long but significantly shorter than getting to Indonesia! Makes a huge difference in the number of diving days, as work prevents my wife and I from taking more than 10-11 days off...
Well, now it's time to find a hotel and dive op, even the hotel choices seem to have expanded as well so gotta do more research (couldn't even find any mention of the hotel we were at last time - the OLD Hotel Nikko that closed when it was haunted by Japanese ghosts).
Can anyone recommend hotels near the major three ops (Sams, Fish'n'Fins, Neco) that have reliable and accessible (prefereably wi-fi) Internet? Meaning not dial-up or pay-per-hour. Sounds like PPR and Sea Passion have good Internet. I've read Palau Royal Resort has wifi for a fee in the "library", but that it can be slow - however, Neco's website says they have free wi-fi at the dive shop, and they're within a short walk of the Palau Royal Resort? Do the other dive shops within walking distance of Palau Royal Resort have Internet access?
